Licensure/ LPAT UPDATE

Dear Members of NJATA,

I would like to share a very important and exciting update with you regarding licensure in NJ. We know you have questions and hopefully this will help! As previously shared, the license committee members have been vetted and approved by the state. We are happy to share that they have officially meet for the first time, and the next step in the licensure process is in motion.

The committee has asked that NJATA share some new and very important information with our members.

Now that the License Committee is established, NJATA will no longer be involved in the process of working on the licensure as everything will now be done through the License Committee. This new clear division of NJATA and the License Committee will establish the needed ethical boundaries between the two entities.

What does that mean?

This means for ethical reasons NJATA will not be able to answer any future questions regarding the license and its progress. It also means that for ethical reasons members of the License Committee itself are also unable to answer/ discuss questions regarding the license and its progress outside of the public meetings.

So how do we find out what is going on with the license?

Moving forward, the Committee will meet monthly to write the regulations. There are many steps that need to be taken in the process of creating these regulations. It will be at least a year before the full law is enacted. Each and all of the regulations need to be approved before being put into place. The meetings will be held in Newark on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Meetings are open to the public starting with a public session then adjourning for a closed executive session.

A web page will be set up through the state’s Consumer Affairs Division for the Licensing Committee and will be shared once it has gone live.

If you have specific questions regarding the license please email Milagros Collazo. She will be the new point of contact regarding the license and the committee.

If you not have your BC there is still time to take it! Remember, the way to be grandfathered into the license is to have successfully passed your BC exam (ATR-BC) by the time the law is fully enacted.

The license will also be required for continued practice of Art Therapy in NJ once the Law is fully enacted. As a reminder there will be two levels of the license a provisional title of Licensed Associate Art Therapist (LAAT) for those who are working to complete the required hours needed for the ATR-BC and NJ state requirements and a professional level of Licensed Professional Art Therapist (LPAT) for those who have the ATR-BC title.